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New Diet Pill, New Health Risks

There is a new diet pill undergoing testing in Italy.  The pill expands in your stomach, suppressing
appetite by giving you a false sense of fullness, sort of like those dehydrated
sponges that expand dramatically when you get them wet.

On the surface it sounds as if this pill might be a
reasonable approach – but there are 2 big problems:

  1. This
    method (filling the stomach to give a sense of fullness and reduce eating)
    has been tried before and has failed to produce the desired result.  Back in the 1980’s scientists attempted
    to use an inflated stomach balloon (Garren Bubble) to suppress hunger.  Unfortunately it didn’t work, and put
    people at high risk for gastric ulcers and other dangerous side
    effects.
  1. There
    is a serious risk of bowel obstruction with this pill.  Once the tablet dissolves in stomach
    acid, the cellulose condenses to produce a bezoar (rock like substance)…
    the pill’s contents can then become wadded up like a rubber tennis ball
    and not pass through the gut safely.
    In fact, the pill could cause a fatal obstruction.

So, as we continue on our quest for the magic pill to cure
our obesity epidemic – we must reject yet another valiant effort.  Sorry folks, it’s back to good old diet and
exercise for most of us.

*Many thanks to Dr. Brian Fennerty who discussed this pill’s
safety with me in a recent interview.This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.


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2 Responses to “New Diet Pill, New Health Risks”

  1. C Coleman Brown MD says:

    My guess is that some folks will end up on the operating room table with an obstruction but go into an arrhythmia because they are doubling down with fen-fen.

  2. samy_williams says:

    well sure does sound interesting and scary!

    now a new pill that i suggest is SlimAlli that does work…i lost about 22 pound in 3 weeks and i love it…just have to take them before lunch n dinner and forget your worries…

    it has some extracts from green tea etc…read more at http://www.slimalli.com

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